What’s that hue to you? This digital color-matching tool is a MUST for artists in the 21st century

Do you remember using the eyedropper tool in MS paint? We are about to do the 2022 version on that…

Eyedropper tool in MS paint

I recorded a basic tutorial of Adobe Color (www.color.adobe.com), which is an interactive color wheel artists can use to find color schemes and moods instead of just guessing. Users can also upload a file to match colors in an image to digital colors that can be used with image-editing apps.

Did you know: guessing exact digital colors is really hard to do because colors on surfaces (such as paint on a canvas) reflect light, and colors on digital screens are a projection of light. Basically, they are different types of color (it can get complicated, but for now think CMYK printer colors vs RGB digital-screen colors). Also, different computer screens vary in the way color looks. Have you ever printed out an image, but it looked way different on your computer? Yep, that’s why. Or your printer is low on ink.

Professional designers and print shops use expensive equipment and light-regulated environments to work with different types of color. Although we can get close, the human eye generally isn’t super great at matching exact shades, tones, and values. Adobe Color can help translate colors to the digital workspace (not vise-versa, that is either trial-and-error with your printer or the job of a print shop).

The objective of this lesson is to understand how an artist who uses traditional materials, such as paint for example, can quickly color-match their work to the digital workspace. This is helpful for many projects — such as creating concept art (using traditional materials) for a public art piece, uploading that artwork to the computer to then create a tight, professional mockup (utilizing digital color matching) — and additionally using the digitally-matched colors throughout an art proposal or social media. However, the possibilities do not end there. Adobe Color is a general necessity for both professional artists and art students.

Important: When uploading a photo to Adobe Color, make sure you take the photo in clear, natural lighting. Compare the photo on a few different digital screens and adjust the contrast and brightness as necessary so the colors look like the original artwork to the best of your ability. Bottom line: don’t use a crappy photo.

If this was a class assignment, I would have art students take a photo of a small artwork they previously made with traditional materials (paint, ink, colored pencils, etc.) as a quick exercise at the beginning of my community and public art PBL unit. They would upload this artwork to Adobe Color and find a color scheme that they believe represents their art well, and practice using the digital colors in another application of their choice. After this exercise, I will let them decide how they want to use Adobe Color in their PBL unit. They could use it to help create a color-accurate digital mockup of a mural, for example. They could create a color scheme to use in their digital sketchbook and/or social media posts. I want them to invent ways (critical digital invention) to use Adobe Color.

Happy coloring!